


As long as I'm alive

by quantumoddity



Series: the sky's the limit [3]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Bisexual Alexander Hamilton, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Pregnancy, Sweet, Wedding Fluff, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 11:41:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7843537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumoddity/pseuds/quantumoddity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I swear to God, you'll never feel so helpless.</p>
<p>Alex and Eliza's wedding day.<br/>Continuing the Modern AU with some (hopefully) cute fluff with the whole Hamilsquad! This follows on from the others in this series, so they might need to be read to understand the whole order of things. Hope you enjoy!</p>
<p>Comments/kudos would be very much appreciated and make me very happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As long as I'm alive

Eliza Schuyler’s face spilt into a delighted grin when she opened the curtains on her wedding day to see the glass streaked with raindrops. She loved rainy days.

“Aw hell,” her sister Peggy groaned when she padded into Eliza’s bedroom in a manner that would probably medically qualify as sleepwalking, “Shit weather for a wedding.”

“Yes but this is our sister, Peg,” Angelica reminded her wryly, as she entered almost a heartbeat behind her sister, balancing three brimming mugs in her hands in a way that would be impossible for most people but not, of course, for Angelica Schuyler. She pressed one into Peggy’s hands, the other into Eliza’s, “Our Eliza’s always been a rainy weather sort of girl. Because she cares about her plants more than people.”

Eliza sniggered, accepting the mug gratefully, wrinkling her nose at the smell of decaf tea. She would have given her right arm for something caffeinated, she was exhausted, but she didn’t have much of a choice. Her other hand settled over her belly almost without thinking. She had more important things in her life than tea now.

“Why shouldn’t I be in a good mood?” Eliza asked, “I’m getting married today and I didn’t wake up vomiting this morning. But yeah, my plants are going to look beautiful after this.” She turned back to the window to quietly regard the rolling grey clouds as her sisters laughed.

“Ah, sweet relief,” Peggy sighed delightedly, after a long swallow of her coffee as she sat cross legged on Eliza’s bed, drawing a jealous glance from the reflection of her sister’s blood shot eyes.

Angelica sat down too, letting Peggy rest her head on her shoulder. She smiled and gave her youngest sister’s fluffy, corkscrew curls a quick kiss.

“Just like old times, huh girls,” Angelica chuckled, “I feel like Mom’s going to poke her head round the door in a second and yell at us to get ready for school.”

Eliza grinned. It had made her feel like a school girl to sleep in her old bed again, surrounded the remnants of her teenage years, her old notebooks full of precisely written notes, her posters for all the dreamy folk bands she used to listen to (and still did, if she was being honest with herself), her vast collection of scarves. It was a little strange, the thought of having her wedding in the grounds of the Schuyler house, but she was glad she’d finally relented to her mother. She loved having her sisters, her partners in crime, so close to her again. It was like one last hurrah for her old life before she began her new one.

“So, you didn’t wither away without Alexander?” Peggy teased, arching an eyebrow, “Didn’t steal away in the middle of the night to crawl into his bed?”

Eliza rolled her eyes, “I liked you better when you were half asleep.” Though she couldn’t stop the blush rising in her cheeks.

“Oh my God, you didn’t!” Peggy gasped incredulously.

Angelica shook her head in mock despair, “Animals.”

When Eliza blushed, she really blushed. “I don’t have to apologise for this!” she insisted, as her two sisters giggled uncontrollably.

-

She had told herself repeatedly that she wasn’t going to do it. She could stand one night away from Alexander. Tomorrow night she could tie him down and do whatever she wanted to him for as long as she wanted, she just had to be patient. She pulled her knees up to her chest as she sat in her battered old wingback, the one Angelica had picked up from a thrift store for Eliza’s fifteenth birthday, trying to focus on her book. But her hormones were starting to growl louder than the words of Twelfth Night.

‘It’s not my fault,’ she thought firmly, ‘it’s biology.’ Her pregnancy was making her a little crazy; it had been like this for a while, her brain chemistry driving her libido through the roof. This would be the first night in almost two weeks that hadn’t begun with her pushing him to his knees as she undid his ponytail or grinning as he climbed on top of her, her hips grinding against him. Just the thought was starting to bring colour to her cheeks again…

She groaned, exasperated as she closed the book, marking her place by folding down the corner of the page (a habit that drove Alex nuts). She’d tried everything to distract from the fact that he was just a staircase away, in one of the spare rooms on the floor above and not in her arms. She’d tried to sleep, she’d tried to read, she’d masturbated, her hands working furiously between her legs, but it was almost midnight and nothing had worked. There was nothing else for it. For God’s sake, she was carrying his baby. She could spend the night with him if she wanted. They were both adults. That didn’t stop her heart hammering as she tiptoed nervously past her parents’ bedroom to the stairs, like she was some love sick teenager in a bad after school special rather than a young woman about to get married and start a family.

The door to Alex’s room was unlocked so she just let herself in, rationalising that he would be happy to see her. She was surprised to hear the sound of the shower running from behind the cracked door of the en suite. Alex must have been on one of his long walks; when he got the urge to go wandering, when the storm of words in his brain got too loud, it didn’t matter what time of day it was (or how many times he’d promised his girlfriend he’d be home for dinner). There was a reason the bags under his eyes were permanent. She also had to stifle a giggle as she realised he was singing in the shower, something he only did when he was in an exceptionally good mood, possibly because he wasn’t the best vocalist in the world. And possibly because he tended to lean towards rap music or cheesy musical theatre. Tonight it was the latter, between his bum notes and the patter of the water, Eliza picked out the lyrics to Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid. Oh God.

She shook her head bemusedly and settled on the bed, deciding to wait for him and enjoy the late show. As she sat, she found herself absently stroking her lower belly, the part that was still flat for the moment but would soon swell and grow as the foetus under her skin did. The thought made her smile. It wasn’t long before the sound of water cut out with the creak of an old tap and Alex emerged in nothing but a towel held loosely around his waist, his sodden hair plastered to his head.

“Hey there,” she said softly.

He jumped half a mile when he saw her, giving a significantly un-alluring yelp of surprise, nearly letting go of his towel, “Eliza?! Jesus, you trying to give me a heart attack? What are you doing here?”

Her smile grew languid and heated, “Well, I was thinking maybe, if you weren’t busy with anything else, you could tear my clothes off and I could ride you until I break you?”

Alex was stunned for a moment; he stood there dripping water on her mother’s third favourite carpet pattern with his eyes wide and his jaw hanging open. Eliza laughed and ran her eyes up and down his body, biting her lip in anticipation.

“Is, uh, is this Peanut again?” he asked, his voice an octave or two higher than usual. That was his nickname for the baby, taken up after their OBGYN had told them once that the foetus was the size of a peanut, coinciding with Eliza’s first craving manifesting as a desperate need for the peanut butter milkshakes served at the place they always went to.

“Yeah, mostly. But partly because you look really hot in a turquoise bath towel,” she grinned, not even joking.

Alex blushed prettily, treating her to his wonky grin, the one that made her knees weak. He shrugged helplessly and advanced on her, pushing her back onto the mattress, pinning her with a deep, heated kiss. Her hands slipped down to his hips, feeling the contours of his body appreciatively, loving the way warm water was dripping from his skin onto hers like sweet rain. He was lost in the taste of her, the soft press of her skin. They kissed for such a long time without holding anything back, without fear or hesitation. She was his and he was hers and it was so beautiful. Alex pulled away, tugging on her lip gently with his teeth as he did so.

She whimpered with longing and disappointment, “Why are you stopping?”

“It just amuses me how you couldn’t last one night without me,” he murmured smugly, “Just had to start the honeymoon early, didn’t you?”

She snorted, taking fistfuls of his long hair in her fingers and pulling gently at the roots. He stiffened almost instantly with a soft gasp that was an attempt at her name. “Shut up and fuck me,” she whispered.

And he did. They moved and rose and crested and fell all night until the new day dawned outside.

Eliza yawned and shifted as the pale golden light fell across her eyelids, nudging Alex who had his head pillowed on her bare chest. He rolled away with a groan, burying his face in the cushions like he was trying to hide from consciousness itself.

“Wake up, man, we’ve got to get married,” Eliza said, prodding his shoulder.

He responded with an incomprehensible murmur.

“Well, I’ve got to sneak back to my room before my sisters come to get me. Its been fun but I’ll see you later,” Eliza smirked, struggling to untangle herself from the man who was going to become her husband in a matter of hours. He caught her before she could, lazily pulling her down so he could press a gentle kiss against her belly, which he did as often as he could since they’d discovered she was pregnant.

“Call me,” Alex joked, his voice thick with sleep.

Eliza laughed as she picked her way around the room, trying to find where her pyjamas had been thrown last night, “I might.”

She finally got herself decent enough to make the dash to her room. She turned to Alex who was at least sitting up, “I’ll be at the altar, make sure you’re there on time.”

“ _Laurens_ will make sure I’m there on time,” he corrected as he stretched out, “Ugh, I can’t believe I’ve got to take another shower now.”

-

“Oh Eliza, I remember a simpler time when you were practically a nun rather than this affront to common decency Alex has turned you into,” Angelica sighed mockingly, patting her sister’s flaming red cheek.

“Is this what college does to people? If so, I’m very excited,” Peggy chortled so much that her shoulders bouncing.

Not one of the Schuyler sisters noticed their mother standing in the doorway, watching her three daughters with an attempt at a stern expression that couldn’t hide her love for every one of them.

“What are you three hyenas laughing about?” Catherine Schuyler shook her head.

“Nothing!” each of them cried, whirling round and suddenly becoming the picture of innocence.

Catherine was familiar with this routine and wasn’t fooled by it for an instant but she let the matter slide, “Just start getting ready please, we have a schedule.”

Eliza let herself have one last moment at the window with the rain before following her sisters and mother. She set down her mug and patted her abdomen reassuringly, for her as much as for her baby.

“Here we come, Alexander,” she smiled.

 

“You nervous?”

Alex had been deep in thought, the question made him start. He tried to focus his attention back on doing his tie right first time, though he considered the question carefully.

“About getting married to Eliza? Not in the slightest,” he said firmly. He’d finally got the knot just right but the lengths were all wrong.

John’s tie was flawless, as always, he could scrub up really nice when he had the inclination to wear something other than sweatpants. He was leaning against the wall of Alex’s room, fulfilling his duties as best man by making sure his charge didn’t climb out of the window or something. Herc, Laff and Burr were off helping set up chairs in the marquee which was must be a hilarious sight but John knew where he was needed. His reflection directed an expectant look at Alex, whose mouth twisted guiltily.

“About getting married to a Schuyler…yeah, a little bit,” he finally admitted.

“There it is,” Laurens nodded sagely.

Alex frowned as he wrestled with his tie, “Why, you got some infinite wisdom to impart?”

Laurens grinned, “No, not at all, I think you should be terrified. I just wanted to get you to admit it.”

“Thanks man,” Alex didn’t try to hide the sarcasm, “Really helpful.”

Laurens shrugged, “What, you want relationship advice from _me_? How about you just focus on the first part, the Eliza part, and you’ll be okay.”

There! His tie was finally perfect and he turned to face his friend. Most people would have thought twice about asking an ex boyfriend to be their best man but he knew he’d made a good choice in Laurens.

“You’re right,” he smiled, getting a modest shrug in response, “Come on, lets go get me married.”

Alex was reaching for his jacket so he didn’t catch the way Laurens’ eyes flickered sadly to his feet, the way his shoulders slumped in what seemed like defeat.

 

“You nervous?”

Eliza considered her reflection in the grand mirror in the hallway, wondering how her mother’s small army had pulled this surprisingly beautiful woman out of her bed headed, bloodshot hormonal mess. They’d even managed to cover up how her stomach was currently tying itself in knots. Her sister’s question drew her out of her daze.

“Um, I’m really nauseous but that’s morning sickness,” she joked, smoothing down the front of her dress, thankful that they’d managed to schedule the wedding before she started to show, otherwise the seamstress may have had a fit (not to mention her mother).

“That’s not an answer,” Angelica said, narrowing her eyes.

Eliza took a breath, “Yeah, of course I’m nervous but that’s normal, right?”

Angelica nodded reassuringly and rose out of the chair. She looked radiant in her bridesmaid’s dress, like one of those statues of Greek goddesses in an art museum come to life. Eliza told her so as she came up behind her, throwing an arm across her shoulders. Angelica snorted derisively but she looked pleased. The two sisters shared a moment at the mirror, gazing at their reflections and wondering how they’d gotten so grown up in such a seemingly short space of time.

“Just be careful with that one, love,” Angelica said quietly, so quiet Eliza wasn’t sure she’d heard right. She wanted to ask her sister what she meant. Angelica wanted to explain what she meant. No more was said.

“Ah, that’s so much better!” Peggy’s loud voice broke the silence as she bounced into the living room, happily wiggling her fingertips, which were once again alternating between lemon yellow and black which didn’t exactly compliment the soft powder blue of the bridesmaid dresses but Peggy would have looked odd without them.

“Mom is going to murder you though,” Eliza noted as her youngest sister came to join the hug.

“Yeah but I’m banking on her not causing a scene in the middle of the ceremony, giving me time to down a good three shots and escape to Mexico before she gets her hands on me.”

Eliza put her arms around both her sisters, squeezing them tightly until they protested.

“I love you guys. You know that right?” she murmured, her voice a little thick.

“We love you too, you goof,” Angelica grinned, kissing Eliza’s head, “We should get going, Mom gave us two minutes and its been about five,” Angelica sighed.

“But first…” Peggy interrupted, grabbing her phone off the table.

A copy of that picture, them arm in arm and grinning with Eliza in her wedding dress, would sit on all three of the sisters’ respective work desks for the rest of their lives.

 

The smell of flowers was drifting through the tent, sweet and light but it was making Alex’s head spin a little. The rain was drumming against the canvas, under the low chatter of the guests; it had been raining steadily all morning. Eliza would like that, Alex thought. He sighed as he realised he only knew about a quarter of the guests he was currently shifting awkwardly in front of. Certainly none of them were related to him, which he had to keep reminding himself was a good thing. He normally didn’t get nervous in front of people; he had the easy charm that people doing polysci degrees tended to have but this was different. He felt like he didn’t belong here, in this gentle light, in this marquee that Catherine Schuyler had decorated to look like a Pinterest board, in this tuxedo that made him feel like a penguin.

Alex was rocking anxiously on his heels, willing himself not to mess with his hair (he’d finally _finally_ got it so there were no loose strands, something that had never happened before in his life) when Lafayette came bounding up to the makeshift altar.

“ _Allonsy, mon amie_ ,” he grinned, “They’re ready.”

Alex took a breath, “Yeah, yeah, okay.”

His friend smirked at his nervousness, reaching out and grasping his shoulder comfortingly, “Just wait until you see her.” The soft glow fairy lights strung up around the tent glinted off of his teeth as he grinned and winked.

Laff had to jump into position as the small string band in the corner suddenly leapt to life with the wedding march. Alex felt his heart thud sickeningly against his ribs. He knew there were a lot of things he should be thinking right now, on the verge of getting married, and he didn’t think any of them were the desperate plea to not faint currently taking over his brain (though, anxious as he was, he had to laugh despairingly at the sight of all six, well muscled foot of Hercules Mulligan throwing rose petals down the aisle, winking and blowing kisses at everyone). He was looking down at his shoes, trying to steady himself, when he heard a soft gasp echo through the tent and he raised his head to see Eliza.

It was like the world stopped when he looked at her, like everything else didn’t exist or else simply didn’t matter. She moved so gracefully, if walking in a straight line could be though of as dancing, this was it in front of him. Her dress was simple but beautiful, long straight silken fabrics up to the top of her breasts, then lace over the shoulders and arms, with a black etching like the branches of a tree in winter. Her dark hair was pulled back and piled elegantly on her head under a long veil but it wasn’t that or her dress that drew Alex’s eyes. Her face, her delicate, beautiful features under the low lights. All together, more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen, so much it hurt. His Eliza.

“Alex?”

He blinked, broken out of his trance by her voice. He realised she was now right in front of him, he was standing there with his mouth hanging open like an idiot and, what was worse, his face was damp with tears. He wiped them away hurriedly with the heel of his hand, grinning embarrassedly, while good-natured laughter rippled through the audience. Eliza smiled radiantly, reaching out to stroke his face but she stopped at the sight of his hair. Alex frowned, wondering what was wrong, unbelieving that he’d managed to mess up already, when Eliza giggled and pulled a few strands of hair out of his ponytail, letting them hang loose around his face like they always did. Once her Alex was as bedraggled as he usually was, the way she liked him, she stepped back, “That’s better.” The laughter grew.

“We’re off to a good start,” Burr sighed in a low voice to Lafayette, who smirked.

The ceremony was beautiful, though Alexander wouldn’t have known, given that he didn’t take his eyes off Eliza for a moment. As they sat next to each other, his hand protectively on her belly, the voices of their friends and family humming around them in some old hymn, he leaned in.

“You look…beautiful,” he said quietly, wanting to find a better word, a word that described the depth of love he had for her, “Very beautiful.”

Eliza grinned, softly biting her lower lip, and laid her head on his shoulder. She understood perfectly.

They kept to the usual vows, realising that if Alexander were allowed free rein they could all be here for hours. So it all went smoothly until a polite cough had to be used to draw them apart from their first kiss as husband and wife, where Alex had lifted Eliza almost completely off her feet.

 

Alexander hadn’t known it was possible to be this happy. Eliza didn’t let go of his hand, she didn’t ever want to again.

 

If there was one thing Alex and Eliza’s friends were good at, it was partying; hence why the main room of the Schuyler house was still buzzing with light and noise well into the early morning.

“Good to know you learned _something_ useful at university,” Peggy shrieked happily in Eliza’s ear, grabbing her as she staggered off the small stage following a particularly raucous duet of Eye of the Tiger with Laurens. Eliza just laughed delightedly, pulling her sister back onto the dance floor.

The newlyweds were never far apart; always whirling back into each other’s arms periodically like some invisible force prevented them from straying far, kept them sneaking swift kisses, longing looks and coy grins. At one point they collapsed into neighbouring chairs, in between songs.

“Hello again,” Alex smiled, reaching out and gently stroking her hair, “Having fun?”

Eliza’s eyes were bright and she was blushing prettily as she nodded. She tipped her head to one side, “You can have drink if you want, you know.”

Of course, she’d been nothing but lemonade all night but she’d noticed that her husband of about ten hours had been sober all night too. She’d made him swear off coffee in solidarity with her (a promise she knew fine well he broke every morning he got to class and out of her sight) but she’d never seen him refuse a drink, especially at a social event with people he didn’t know where he needed all the charisma that alcohol could unlock.

But he just grinned crookedly and shrugged, “Don’t need to. I feel great. Better than great.”

Eliza felt her heart beat faster and she pulled him close so she could kiss him.

 

Songs were sung, embarrassing dance moves were danced, speeches were said that were the perfect mix of humour and sentiment and tears were surreptitiously wiped from Alex’s cheeks before anyone but Eliza could see. Finally, everything wound down and Angelica waved the couple off to bed. Eliza fished her heels out from under one of the tables where she’d abandoned them about five minutes after the party had started, Alex reclaimed his tie from around Lafayette’s head and they drifted off to the one of the larger spare bedrooms upstairs they’d been consigned to. Once they were out of earshot of the half-hearted suggestive whoops of their friends (which were, in essence, a formality, nearly everyone of them had walked in on Alex and Eliza at some point on nearly every horizontal surface of both their dorms. Alex was bad at remembering to put socks on doorknobs. It had ceased to be an embarrassment), they both allowed themselves to feel the blissful exhaustion that had built up inside them.

“Mind if I dispense with the whole ‘carrying the bride’ tradition? Its two flights of stairs,” Alex asked a little sheepishly.

“And technically, you’d be carrying two people which is a bit unfair,” Eliza agreed.

“Plus, it’s kind of your fault I didn’t get any sleep last night,” he reminded her, kissing her forehead gently.

“Fair enough, I’ll let you off,” she allowed, with a roll of her eyes.

It wasn’t long before they were both lying on the bed, not even under the covers, completely and hopelessly tangled. Eliza had managed to wriggle free of her dress, Alex had just about made it down to his boxers before they surrendered to their exhaustion and ache for each other. They just held each other for a long moment, not speaking, just enjoying the sound of each other breathing and the steady thump of each other’s heart beat. Eliza’s fingertips lazily skirted over his long hair, his played idly with the lace of her bra. It was perfect. It was right.

She pulled away a little; her face apologetic but he anticipated what she was going to say before she did.

“No worries, I always thought if you weren’t too tired for sex on your wedding night, you hadn’t done the reception right,” he smiled.

She laughed, kissing him quickly, “We’ve got all day tomorrow.”

“And every day after that,” he murmured in a low voice, his eyes suddenly deepening with so much love. Her eyes shone in the thin moonlight coming in from the open window.

“I love you, Alexander.”

“I love you too.”

It was still raining outside; Eliza could hear the steady drumbeat against the walls. She smiled and they fell asleep in each other’s arms, safe and so unbelievably happy.

She loved rainy days.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr, quantum-oddity, come and interact!


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